Book 19: Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins

Once again, I didn't want to read this book.  It had been highly recommended by both family members and friends from the library.  I had put it on hold more than once before, and then when it would finally straggle in I would reread the flyleaf and send it on its way.  But this time when it arrived, my youngest was finishing the series and raving about it, and my librarian daughter was home on a visit and urging me to read it.  So I began.

Let me begin my review by saying that I agree with other readers who say that Suzanne Collins is a good writer.  This book is much more polished than the writing of Stephenie Meyers of Twilight fame. It is also written in first person, present tense.  I am usually fairly sensitive to odd tenses, but this writing is so tight and smooth that I was halfway through the book before I realized it was in present tense.  This was a clever choice on the author's part, because it serves to heighten the suspense.

The story takes place in the future, when North America is ruled by a Capital district, which exacts punishment for past crimes on the twelve outlying districts by requiring them to send two children every year to participate in the Hunger Games, a televised fight to the death.  The heroine, Katniss, chooses to take her sister's place when her name is drawn, and travels to the Capital to compete for her life against twenty-three other teens.  This is a horrible premise for a book, even one aimed at teen readers.  There is no way this can turn out well--the government is bloodthirsty and cruel and even if Katniss wins, the resulting deaths will no doubt be gruesome.

When I got to the part of the book when the Games are about to begin, I felt so queasy and unsettled that I told Library Daughter that I was not going to finish the book.  She shrugged and said that I didn't have to.  But the book kept haunting me, so I decided to read just a little more.  And of course, due to the suspense and slick writing, I ended up finishing it a couple days later. 


The author bio on the back flyleaf says that Suzanne Collins is exploring "the effects of war and violence on those coming of age."  I thought about that for a while, but I think that this book in many ways is more of a statement about the voyeurism of our society, and the possible eventual consequences of people who are obsessed with reality TV.  I used to enjoy "Survivor" several years ago---but how many steps is it between watching people starving on an island and plotting to outmaneuver others so they will not be voted off, and watching children outmaneuver others so they will not be killed off?  In a post-apocalyptic world, it is not beyond the realm of possibility that this could happen.  (And isn't Caesar Flickerman, the television host, just a little bit like Ryan Seacrest and Jeff Probst?) 


I am glad I finally read the book, so that when people ask me about it at the library I can answer their questions.  I would not recommend it to even young teens, because it is one of those books that stays with you.  I also wish it was not so gory.  I heard that a movie is in the works, and I can't imagine how that is possible with a teen target audience.  After I finished reading the book, I had to read something nice and fluffy and friendly just to shake the creepy pictures out of my mind.  How much worse if it is on the screen.

So my final word is that I am conflicted.  And maybe that is just exactly how Suzanne Collins wants her readers to be.